Business briefs: Greece's Piraeus Bank to buy 3 Cyprus banks

Greece's Piraeus Bank reached an agreement Tuesday to buy the Greek operations of three Cypriot banks for $678 million, as stock markets in Athens were hit hard by the crisis in Cyprus.

Piraeus, which was selected last Friday to take over the Greek units of the Bank of Cyprus, Laiki and Hellenic, will see its share of loans in the Greek market rise from 19 percent to 27 percent. Its three new additions have combined assets of $21.2 billion and take Piraeus' branches up to 1,600 with 24,000 employees.

Greece's conservative-led government pushed aggressively for the deal, as Cyprus remains in crisis over a bailout that will see large depositors on the island hit by a levy.

Piraeus Bank said Cypriot bank branches in Greece would re-open Wednesday, a day earlier than in Cyprus.

NEW YORK

2 charged in $27M insider trading scheme

A former chief information officer for Foundry Networks Inc. and an analyst for a firm that advises a group of hedge funds in San Francisco have been charged in New York in a $27 million insider trading case.

David Riley of Foundry was charged in federal court in Manhattan along with analyst Matthew Teeple. Prosecutors say Riley provided inside information about the networking hardware vendor to Teeple, who caused others to execute trades.

Teeple was arrested Tuesday in San Clemente; Riley in San Jose. Both were expected to make initial court appearances in California. As authorities announced the arrests, they said a third defendant, Denver-based John Johnson, pleaded guilty this month to conspiracy and securities fraud charges.

NEW YORK

Citi told to improve anti-laundering

The Federal Reserve has ordered Citigroup to improve its plans for preventing money laundering.

In an order made public on Tuesday, the Fed said that Citi had agreed to fix "deficiencies" in its anti-money laundering controls. The bank has two months to submit a written plan addressing steps such as policies and funding for personnel.

The order is based on similar mandates issued against Citi or its subsidiaries last year — one by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and one by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the California Department of Financial Institutions.

Money laundering allows people to make money — often obtained illegally — appear like it came from another source. Banks are required to report suspicious activity to the government and to put in place rules meant to make money laundering impossible for customers.

LONDON

U.S. firm to run U.K. rescue helicopters

A private U.S. company is to take over the work of Britain's military search-and-rescue helicopter service, whose pilots include Prince William.

The Department for Transport announced Tuesday that Houston-based, Bristow Group has won a $2.4 billion contract to operate the service, which for 70 years has been run by Royal Navy and Royal Air Force squadrons.

Bristow Managing Director Mike Imlach said the company would replace Britain's aging Sea Kings with more advanced helicopters to provide a better service. Unions said they were concerned about the privatization.